Las Vegas

Courtesy of my BEST friend, Jolyn Brand, I recently did the Vegas, single-mom/girls weekend getaway! The picture below was the favored public picture because my dress was dynamite! :)

However, perhaps it was because we didn't know where to go, mid-thirties or what, but I've concluded that Vegas is for couples or young, hard-bodied eye-candy! I know that's harsh, but from what I experienced...that's my summation. Couples because you need someone to kiss when you hit at the Blackjack table! And, young 'uns because at 36, I just think it's plain-bloody ridiculous to walk around and balance on 6 in. stripper heels...or wedges for that matter!

Yes, I had an overall great time--minus the load of crap MGM gave us (i.e. Sure, we'll break your luggage, charge you extra for early check-in and then not have a room ready! Oh...and don't mind our house-keepers barging into your room despite the "Do not distrub" sign posted! )

Overall, Vegas gets 2 stars!!

GABIFRESH: Absolutely a Soul Sister!

GABIFRESH: .: I started GabiFresh (originally named Young, Fat and Fabulous) in September 2008 after graduating college with an interest in fashion journ...

Parent Arrested Over Book w/Sexual Content

Recently, Todd Starnes of Fox News, wrote an article asserting his stance regarding a New Hampshire School's Defense of a Sexually Graphic Novel.

Here's an excerpt...at the least the portion I choose to reference in my response.

Heaven forbid the superintendent of schools be the arbiter of decency. So who, pray tell, is responsible for deciding whether children are exposed to pornographic literature?

“It’s a decision of the local community,” he told me.

I was especially intrigued by the school board’s official statement. Read carefully:

“The School District policies IGE, IJ, IJA, KEC (available on the school district website) refer to the procedures for the use of novels containing controversial material. The district will take immediate action to revise these policies to include notification that requires parents to accept controversial materials rather than to opt out. Furthermore, the notification will detail more specifically the controversial material.”

Did you catch the part about forcing parents to accept racy, bawdy novels rather than opt out?

This school district may very well be the poster child for why you should home school your children.

Author Jodi Picoult told the Union-Leader that she was aware of the controversy in Gilford. Her solution was to make the novel a family affair.

“Read the book with your kids, by all means use it as a springboard for discussion with your kids,” she told the newspaper.

And afterwards, why not take the whole family down to the local strip club for dinner and a show?

Baer told EAGNews.org that he believes the incident is proof that public schools are trying to indoctrinate children with moral relativism.

First, as a parent that actually parents and raise my children, I understand the parent's outrage at NOT being notified. Furthermore, as an educator for the past 14 years, I am shocked that the teacher omitted the policy in notifying the PARENTS via written and electronic form. However, my harmony stops there.

Yes, the excerpt referenced is graphic. But it's also indicative of what's going on in high schools NOW. The kids are either curious about or having sex. And, the ironic thing is that majority of the parents are in denial and/or not taking a more proactive role in educating their children about sex--dangers, pitfalls, risks, and possible outcomes--so it's left up to books, educators and mentors. So bluntly put, either do your job and have it done the way you want it. Or, pipe-down and let the educators, writers and peers educate your children. Yes, the choice is that simple.

I taught in high schools for 10 years as an English teacher. My shock at seeing pregnant girls in my classroom gave me the reality check that the censorship of these types of books (like the one centered in this controversy) is not needed. High school students are testing out their sexuality, figuratively AND literally. Honestly, if the worse case scenario is their reading about it, then count your blessings. Case in point, I about fell out of my chair, when my 17 years old student (who was 8 months pregnant) suggested that WE have a joint baby shower, as I was 30 years old and 8 months pregnant. To use their catch-phrase: WTH???? On what planet of crazy did that idea come from? Furthermore, what the Hades did your mother say when she found out that you were in high school pregnant? Her response to my questions..."she's happy she's going to be a grandmother!" WHATEVER. How's that for moral relativism?

I'm by no means saying that Picoult's book should be used as a sex manual or in self-help aspect, but what I AM saying is that insinuating that parents take their kids to the 'strip-club' because the school district refuses to censor the book is such a damn ridiculous suggestion it makes me wonder whether Starnes' soap-box has a "sexual taboo" hiding under it...heaven forbid anything worse...I wrote that to demonstrate how ridiculous and absurd pointless comments can be. Nevertheless, FoxNews does have a reputation of outlandish TV personalities that call themselves journalists/reporters. But that's another post...

I agree with the author's suggestion for parents to use it as a means to have a discussion about sex, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE NOT!!! Take a look at the schools, whether they're on a TV show for being a teen and getting pregnant or in their first relationship and just "curious" how it works, if you don't parent teenagers, they will parent themselves...pay attention to the pun because the next name-calling will be "Grandma" or "Paw-Paw," Mr. Starnes.

President Obama in His Best Role Ever!

I'm not a political junkie, but I do vote. I've never been a fan of Presidents simply because they're one person, leading three ring circus of opinionated, sometimes hypocritical "leaders" (I've yet to meet a politician that leads my cause effectively...but that's another post).

But what I appreciate about President Obama, as a man, is his humanity. He's not abashed to let down his guard or stand on the grounds of "political correctness," especially when it comes to the nation's children. I say this in reference to the Washington Post's tweet of the President Reading Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, one of at least 10 Books Every Child Should Read. His character, something that's lost in a lot of souls, shines through at this moment. Is he perfect? No...neither am I. Am I his friend? No...but I'd like to think he's very selective in his choice of friends...just as I am.

But as a librarian, I can't recall a President getting into "character" to read for children. That's why I appreciate him and his leadership. I wouldn't trade shoes with him for a minute. Scrutiny is not my cup of tea. However, for this moment (and some additional moments, for he's read this beloved children's book SEVERAL times-see below) he's the BEST guy I know, who's using his character influence, justly!

President Obama read "Where the Wild Things Are" to kids today. He got into it. http://t.co/jhQCnV5ChU pic.twitter.com/HMhj7AKg5C

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 21, 2014

Hip-Hop & Science

Though I'm classically trained as a cellist, my 2nd love is "hip-hop." BUT before you hit the road, know this...I love old school hip-hop, where rhythm, rhyme and slang discussed the morale, tribulations and "going-ons" of the beautiful innards of "cocoa-life." Sure, there were curse words involved, but there was also a frankness that seems lost in the political correctness of the world now.

True, I'm biased and liberal, but I'm also quite realistic...blame it on my Gemini nature! When this WuTang rapper, the one and only GZA, said "music is in everything," I thought of Mozart, who heard harmonies in his head and could memorize a song after hearing it once. And, Beethoven, who composed, having not heard his own notes, the most invigorating music of mankind. For it was the opening measures of Beethoven's 5th Symphony that inspired the Morse Code taps for victory.



So, please listen to this video. GZA and his panel of young rappers are, in a word, poignant. It's a perspective you never thought of, unless you're a cocoa girl from the '90s, who wishes these popular rappers, who continually water-down the original rapper's creed, would just RIP. Don't worry, I won't put any rappers on blast!

MLK: Ceremonial Stalemate

Good Morning Everyone! Today is the ceremonial, nation-wide celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (prominent Civil Rights leader, who, along with others (white and black), petitioned a much needed change in America). But, honestly, if Dr. King lived on to see today's America, do you think he'd be impressed? I think not!

Why would I say so? After teaching for 13 years in the public education system, I still see the blatant slapping in the face of Brown vs. the Board of Education. I still see white faces in power-making positions, while minorities struggle for funding for their education (public and private) and are bred to be athletic beasts or entertainers, or find it very difficult to move into power-making positions as professional adults, (i.e. not promoted thinkers...not equals, unless it's a "you govern your kind" type of mentality to reference my remark about moving into power-making positions).

American public schools are in such disarray, with some districts still being segregated (i.e. urban schools fenced in, heavily policed and under funded, while suburban schools are more like college campuses with resources abounding and extra-curricular activities flourishing). Racial segregation is still a sore spot playing out in modern-day society (i.e. Trayvon Martin, the fall of famed Southern chef Paula Deen and the American Prison Systems, where African American males outnumber white males 5 to 1 because of the perception that Black males are more violent than white, see "White on White Crime More Prevalent than Black on Black"). All of this present-day strife brings to mind Langston Hughes' poem, "Let America Be America Again." I specifically want to call to mind these stanzas:

O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, / But opportunity is real, and life is free, / Equality is in the air we breathe. / (There's never been equality for me, / Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

What's stinging my mind this morning is the part "where liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath." Today, I feel that as cities across the nation, if not the world, celebrate the actions and causes of MLK's dream that it's just ceremonial. He and countless invisible others fought for equality, action, empathy, thought and unity. Yet, where the hell is it visible? Sure, I could acute specific instances to suffice that concern, but nation-wide, have we answered the call, consistently? I think we've become lackadaisical. And for that, Dr. King would roll-over in his grave, asking where he might of gone astray in his plight.

But it's not him that's astray, it's us. When the light of his torch was extinguished, we've yet to pick it up with the vigor and conviction that he and others demonstrated. Sure, laws were passed and tensions have relaxed some between races, but honestly, have we, as America, done much since? We're still celebrating firsts: First Black President, First Hispanic Woman on the Supreme Court, First Openly Female Lesbian Mayor of a major metropolis. And those are all FANTASTIC accomplishments and much needed.

Yet, what the truth is, is that majority of Fortune 500 hundred companies have white men at the helm, as well as white men over the colleges and universities, superintendents of school districts, collegiate athletic directors, owners of professional sports teams and littered all over Congress as "representatives of their constituents." Ha, ha! While Blacks, Hispanics, Middle Easterners and Asians are still accomplishing the "First Ever" titles because they lack the "pale-pigmented privilege." Is that opportunity real? Is it free? Is it equality in the air we breathe? Better still, is it the dream of a King?

No, it's a stalemate. And, frankly my dear, I'm tired of that ceremonial limitation.

Education Reformation...for Educators have LOST their voice!

So, I've often thought that corporations and government agencies are, rather directly, debilitating our education system. Bureaucracy and idealized reform have trickled from the top down onto the shoulders of the educators, like the flushing of a commode. But I've never been able to articulate my thoughts in an "kosher" manner...until now!

Dr. Paul Thomas' post on Education Reform had me jumping out of my chair with conviction. See this screen shot of my post:



Here are some excerpts from his post, beginning with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man:

“I am an invisible man,” announces the unnamed narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, adding:

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me….When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, of figments of their imaginations—indeed, everything and anything except me….That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact….you often doubt if you really exist….It’s when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you exist in the real world, that you’re a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it’s seldom successful.

From Dr. Thomas: "In effect, then, for a century, teachers have been invisible in their own field, except as both compliant workers implementing political and bureaucratic mandates and as often-silent scapegoats as that bureaucracy fails."

CC, charter schools, TFA, VAM, and merit pay plans are driven by advocates who refuse to see not only teachers but also the entire history and field of education, or as Arundhati Roy explains, “We know of course there’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless.’ There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.”

and I will conclude with this last excerpt from Dr. Thomas...

Let’s allow for the first time in history educators the recognition they deserve to examine, evaluate, and reform their own field. Current reform that is top-down and driven by the same historical and bureaucratic methods that have brought us to where we now stand is destined to repeat the same patterns we have already experienced for over 100 years.

I cannot express enough, how insightful this article is to me. For those of you that follow, you know I've endured my own battle as a new librarian in an urban school (see this post). In fact it's still going on (the "entrapment" I feel at my current place of employment), but I'm hoping a new perspective, the motivation of only 5 months remaining on my contract, and/or the hope of some transformation miracle that will allow me a promotion from the aforementioned state of purgatory, will come to pass in this year! Though I'm unhappy, I've learned the importance of humility and adaptation.

Nevertheless, please read Dr. Thomas' article: "Education Reform: Our field, Our Voices Just Don't Matter." And for all my down-trodden educators, BE INSPIRED for change, a worthy change, is coming!